Molecular analysis of ex-vivo CD133+ GBM cells revealed a common invasive and angiogenic profile but different proliferative signatures among high grade gliomas

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Gliomas are the most common type of primary brain tumours, and in this group glioblastomas (GBMs) are the higher-grade gliomas with fast progression and unfortunate prognosis. Two major aspects of glioma biology that contributes to its awful prognosis are the formation of new blood vessels through the process of angiogenesis and the invasion of glioma cells. Despite of advances, two-year survival for GBM patients with optimal therapy is less than 30%. Even in those patients with low-grade gliomas, that imply a moderately good prognosis, treatment is almost never curative. Recent studies have demonstrated the existence of a small fraction of glioma cells with characteristics of neural stem cells which are able to grow <it>in vitro </it>forming neurospheres and that can be isolated <it>in vivo </it>using surface markers such as CD133. The aim of this study was to define the molecular signature of GBM cells expressing CD133 in comparison with non expressing CD133 cells. This molecular classification could lead to the finding of new potential therapeutic targets for the rationale treatment of high grade GBM.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Eight fresh, primary and non cultured GBMs were used in order to study the gene expression signatures from its CD133 positive and negative populations isolated by FACS-sorting. Dataset was generated with Affymetrix U133 Plus 2 arrays and analysed using the software of the Affymetrix Expression Console. In addition, genomic analysis of these tumours was carried out by CGH arrays, FISH studies and MLPA;</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Gene expression analysis of CD133+ vs. CD133- cell population from each tumour showed that CD133+ cells presented common characteristics in all glioblastoma samples (up-regulation of genes involved in angiogenesis, permeability and down-regulation of genes implicated in cell assembly, neural cell organization and neurological disorders). Furthermore, unsupervised clustering of gene expression led us to distinguish between two groups of samples: those discriminated by tumour location and, the most importantly, the group discriminated by their proliferative potential;</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Primary glioblastomas could be sub-classified according to the properties of their CD133+ cells. The molecular characterization of these potential stem cell populations could be critical to find new therapeutic targets and to develop an effective therapy for these tumours with very dismal prognosis.</p

Expression of VAV1 in the tumour microenvironment of glioblastoma multiforme

Even though much progress has been made towards understanding the molecular nature of glioma, the survival rates of patients affected by this tumour have not changed significantly over recent years. Better knowledge of this malignancy is still needed in order to predict its outcome and improve patient treatment. VAV1 is an GDP/GTP exchange factor for Rho/Rac proteins with oncogenic potential that is involved in the regulation of cytoskeletal dynamics and cell migration. Here we report its overexpression in 59 patients diagnosed with high-grade glioma, and the associated upregulation of a number of genes coding for proteins also involved in cell invasion- and migration-related processes. Unexpectedly, immunohistochemical experiments revealed that VAV1 is not expressed in glioma cells. Instead, VAV1 is found in non-tumoural astrocyte-like cells that are located either peritumouraly or perivascularly. We propose that the expression of VAV1 is linked to synergistic signalling cross-talk between cancer and infiltrating cells. Interestingly, we show that the pattern of expression of VAV1 could have a role in the neoplastic process in glioblastoma tumours.Peer Reviewe

EUBREWNET RBCC-E Huelva 2015 Ozone Brewer Intercomparison

From 25 May to 5 June 2015, the 10th regional intercomparison campaign of the Regional Brewer Calibration Center – Europe (RBCC-E) was held at El Arenosillo atmospheric sounding station of the Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial (INTA). This campaign was jointly conducted by COST Action ES1207 EUBREWNET and the Area of Instrumentation and Atmospheric Research of INTA. A total of 21 Brewers, 11 single- and 10 double-monochromator instruments from 11 countries participated and were calibrated for total column ozone (TOC) and solar UV irradiance. In this 2015 campaign we have introduced a formal approach to the characterisation of the internal instrumental stray light, the filter non-linearity and the algorithm for correcting for its effects on the TOC calculations. This work shows a general overview of the ozone comparison and the evaluation of the correction of the spectral stray light effect for the single-monochromator Brewer spectrophotometer, derived from the comparison with a reference double-monochromator Brewer instrument. At the beginning of the campaign, 16 out of the 21 participating Brewer instruments agreed within better than ±1%, and 10 instruments agreed within better than ±0.5% considering data with ozone slant column between 100 and 900DU, which does not require instrumental stray light correction.This article is based upon work from COST Action 1207 EUBREWNET. This work has been supported by the European Metrology Research Programme within the joint research project ENV59 “Traceability for atmospheric total column ozone” (ATMOZ). The EMRP is jointly funded by the EMRP participating countries within EURAMET and the European Union. We also gratefully acknowledge further support by the Fundación General de la Universidad de La Laguna. This study and the campaigns were supported at large part by ESA project CEOS Intercalibration of ground-pectrometers and lidars (ESRIN contract 22202/09/I-EC)

Response of the ozone column over Europe to the 2011 Arctic ozone depletion event according to ground-based observations and assessment of the consequent variations in surface UV irradiance

International audienceThe strong ozone depletion event that occurred in Arctic during spring 2011 was found to cause appreciable reduction in the ozone column (OC) in Europe, even at lower latitudes. The features of this episode have been analysed using the data recorded at 34 ground-based stations located in the European area and compared with the similar events in 2000 and 2005. The results provided evidence that OC as far south as 40°N latitude was considerably influenced by the Arctic ozone loss in spring 2011. The reduction of OC at the northernmost sites was about 40% with respect to the mean value calculated over the previous six-year period, while a similar decrease at the southern extreme ranged between 15 and 18%, and were delayed by nearly two weeks compared to the Arctic region. The ozone distributions reconstructed for the West Europe sector show that the decline of OC lasted from late March to late April 2011. The echo of the Arctic ozone depletion on mid-latitude UV irradiance has been analysed trough model computations that show an increase of the midday erythemal dose by 3-4 SED (1 SED = 100 J m-2) that was slightly higher than at polar regions. On the other hand it was assessed that the biosystems in the northernmost regions were a subject of about 4 times higher UV stress than those at mid-latitudes. Despite indications of an OC recovery, the event examined here shows that the issue of ozone depletion episodes cannot be belittled

The Coronavirus Anxiety Scale: Cross-National Measurement Invariance and Convergent Validity Evidence

Coronavirus Anxiety Scale (CAS) is a widely used measure that captures somatic symptoms of coronavirus-related anxiety. In a large-scale collaboration spanning 60 countries (Ntotal = 21,513), we examined the CAS’s measurement invariance and assessed the convergent validity of CAS scores in relation to the fear of COVID-19 (FCV-19S) and the satisfaction with life (SWLS-3) scales. We utilized both conventional exact invariance tests and alignment procedures, with results revealing that the single-factor model fit the data well in almost all countries. Partial scalar invariance was supported in a subset of 56 countries. To ensure the robustness of results, given the unbalanced samples, we employed resampling techniques both with and without replacement and found the results were more stable in larger samples. The alignment procedure demonstrated a high degree of measurement invariance with 9% of the parameters exhibiting noninvariance. We also conducted simulations of alignment using the parameters estimated in the current model. Findings demonstrated reliability of the means but indicated challenges in estimating the latent variances. Strong positive correlations between CAS and FCV-19S estimated with all three different approaches were found in most countries. Correlations of CAS and SWLS-3 were weak and negative, but significantly differed from zero in several countries. Overall, the study provided support for the measurement invariance of the CAS and offered evidence of its convergent validity while also highlighting issues with variance estimation

Trust in government moderates the association between fear of COVID-19 as well as empathic concern and preventive behaviour

With the COVID-19 pandemic, behavioural scientists aimed to illuminate reasons why people comply with (or not) large-scale cooperative activities. Here we investigated the motives that underlie support for COVID-19 preventive behaviours in a sample of 12,758 individuals from 34 countries. We hypothesized that the associations of empathic prosocial concern and fear of disease with support towards preventive COVID-19 behaviours would be moderated by trust in the government. Results suggest that the association between fear of disease and support for COVID-19 preventive behaviours was strongest when trust in the government was weak (both at individual- and country-level). Conversely, the association with empathic prosocial concern was strongest when trust in the government was high, but this moderation was only found at individual-level scores of governmental trust. We discuss how motivations may be shaped by socio-cultural context, and outline how findings may contribute to a better understanding of collective action during global crises